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Tuesday, 5 November 2013

Let me introduce you....

...... to one of my favourite Christian authors, Davis Bunn.

From the day I read his novel "The Presence" I was an avid fan and you can read my review of that book in this earlier blog post. Book Review 2

Now I am excited to be reading his latest novel just released today "The Strait of Hormuz" (the third book in his Mark Royce Series) and I will be reviewing it here on my blog on Tuesday 12th November, so don't forget to drop in then and see how good the book is.Before that however I will give you a nice run up to it by reviewing the first two books in this series "Lion of Babylon"and "Rare Earth"and if you head over to Amazon they are available there at good prices.

Davis Bunn and his wife, Isabella Bunn

About Davis Bunn

Davis Bunn is a four-time Christy Award-winning, best-selling author now serving as writer-in-residence at Regent's Park College, Oxford University in the United Kingdom. Defined by readers and reviewers as a "wise teacher," "gentleman adventurer," "consummate writer," and "Renaissance man," his work in business took him to over 40 countries around the world, and his books have sold more than seven million copies in sixteen languages.

Strait of Hormuz is the series finale of the popular Marc Royce Adventures. Library Journal named Lion of Babylon (Book 1) a “Best Book of 2011.” Rare Earth (Book 2) won the 2013 Christy Award for best suspense novel and was a CBA top 20 best-seller.

Q & A
with Davis Bunn

Q: The
first two books in the Marc Royce series have been bestsellers and also won
praise from the critics. Lion of Babylon
won the Library Journal’s Best Book of 2011 award, and Rare Earth won the 2013 Christy Award for Suspense Fiction. What do
you see is behind this success?

Davis
Bunn: The stories have certainly resonated with readers.
I have tried to develop a strong sense of unfolding drama, combined with a
unique spiritual theme. This moral structure plays out both in the story and
the characters. My aim is to create an inspirational challenge that remains
with the reader long after the book has been set down.

Q: This story includes two special
components from your early life. Tell us about them.

DB: My mother worked as an antiques dealer. In
truth, ‘work’ was not really the correct term, because this was a passion she
inherited from her mother. They bonded while my mom was still a child, going to
small eastern Carolina towns and hunting around junk stores for the sort of
bargains that don’t exist anymore.

Their
first love was early Americana, a type of colonial furniture known as Jacobean
that predated America’s nationhood. I never really shared this passion, but in
two previous books I came to respect and admire those who do.

And so I
knew a great delight in re-entering this world in Strait of Hormuz, only this time at the very highest end. Strait takes place in the rarified world
of multi-million dollar art, where the richest of collectors vie with museums
and galleries for items that are no longer classed as antiques, but rather as
treasures

The
second special component was the location. I lived in Switzerland for almost
five years, and many of the venues were places where I worked, and walked, and
came to discover myself as an author.

Q:
In what way is the setting important to this book?

DB: The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most critical waterways.
Stretching between Iran and the Gulf States, the strait us home to two US
fleets. More than a third of all the oil consumed worldwide pass through these
waters. But the story actually begins in Switzerland, before traveling to the Sinai
and then into the hotly-contested Strait of Hormuz.

Q: What
spiritual theme is the focus of this story?

DB: One growing area of the missionary church movement is with
displaced persons. More than five million Iranians have been expelled from
their homeland, or been forced to flee the current regime. This includes
virtually the entire Christian population. The missionary church movement has
made enormous strides in bringing peace to these families and introducing
Christ into the world of Muslims fleeing a Muslim government.

Q: What
drew you to the missionary church movement as a theme?

DB: I came to faith in a missionary church. I was working as a
consultant based in Germany. The year I accepted Christ, the Southern Baptist
Mission Board founded a missionary church in Dusseldorf. I attended the church,
I grew in the church, I studied under two amazing pastors, and one of them returned
to Europe to marry us.

It was also where I learned to write. Two
weeks after coming to faith, I felt called to writing. I wrote for nine years
and completed seven books before my first was accepted for publication. The
church, its members, and the elders all played a critical role in bringing me
to where I am now. I am living testimony to the vital role played by the
missionary church.

Q: All
three of the books in this series have given significant insight into the
Muslim world, something critics have picked up on. What experience do you have
with this region?

DB: For the four years prior to moving to Germany, I lived and worked
in the Middle East. I was the only non-Muslim in the management structure of a
family-owned company. They had three major arms: construction equipment,
shipping, and pharmaceuticals. I rose to become Marketing Manager of the
pharmaceutical division.

One of the requirements of this job was to
take instruction in the Koran and Islamic history from an imam who taught at
the local university. I think this experience played a major role in my coming
to Christ.